Stone guitar with tuned neck

ABSTRACT

Disclosed herein is a new and improved electric guitar having a stone body in which is housed conventional electronic pickup means, controls and the like, and a uniquely reinforced, &#39;&#39;&#39;&#39;tuned&#39;&#39;&#39;&#39; neck construction providing a new and improved musical instrument with outstanding sustain and high frequency resonanting effects. Specifically, the body is formed from a comparatively heavy stone slab, typically 1 to 1 1/8 inches thick, while the neck is reinforced and its geometry stabilized by a steel truss rod and by a precisely tuned, steel reinforcing or tuning bar laminated therein. The tuning bar advantageously is a 21 inch (nominal) bar of 5/16 inch square tool steel hardened to Rockwell C 60 which is ground down to a precise length which produces a &#39;&#39;&#39;&#39;high E&#39;&#39;&#39;&#39; note when the bar is struck like a tuning fork and permitted to vibrate. rmitted to vibrate.

States Patent Cawthorn Nov. 6, 1973 STONE GUITAR WITH TUNED NECK PrimaryExaminer-Richard B. Wilkinson [76] Inventor: Joel M. Cawthorn, PO. Box361, Assistant Examiner stanley witkowski Shady, NY 12498 Att0rneyHubertT. Mandeville et al.

[22] Filed: Apr. 25, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 247,348 [57] ABSTRACTDisclosed herein is a new and improved electric guitar 52 us. Cl 84/29184/l.l6 84/267 having in which is housed In. CL I u l H clohl/os GIOh3/00 electronic pickup means, controls and the like, and a [58] Field otsearchm. 84/1.i 6 DIG. 30 PF Y' 84/267 274 291 viding a new and improvedmusical instrument with outstanding sustain and high frequencyresonanting effects. Specifically, the body is formed from a compara-[56] References Cited tively heavy stone slab, typically 1 to 1% inchesthick, UNITED STATES PATENTS while the neck is reinforced and itsgeometry stabilized 518,900 4/1894 Seal 84/291 X b a teel truss rod andby a precisely tuned, steel rein- 629374 7/1899 Kindig 34/29] X forcingor tuning bar laminated therein. The tuning bar 1,732,297 l0/l929Andrade 84/29] advantageously is a 21 inch (nominal) bar of 1 inchsquare tool steel hardened to Rockwell C 60 which is 3 438 297 4/1969Oglet jee 3.... 84/267 ground a Precise length which Produccs a3:440:91) 4/1969 Baker 84/291 high E note when the bar is struck like atuning fork 3 474 97 10 19 9 Kama" u 4/2 7 and permitted t0 vibrate.rmitted to vibrate. 3,656,395 4/1972 Kaman 84/267 3,680,423 Lander84/267 x 8 Claims, 5 Drawing F igures 1 STONE GUITAR WITH TUNED NECKBACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Electric guitar constructions are well knownto the art, and a plethora of body and reinforced neck designs thereforare shown in the patent literature. Common to all of the prior artdisclosures is the goal of improving some aspect of the performance ofthe instrument. It is to a further and marked improvement in thestrength, stability, and acoustic characteristics of stringedinstruments in general and electric guitars in particular that thepresent invention is directed.

SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION ples of the present invention, animproved electric guitarconstruction includes a flat stone body, i.e., abody 'made from a relatively hard, naturally formed mass of mineral orpetrified matter such as granite, marble, onyx, rose quartz, petrifiedwood, agate, to provide a guitar body which will vibrate only atextremely high frequency and will contribute to the excellent sustainingqualities generated by a tuned neck. Moreover, the use of astonebody'provides a body which tends to be acoustically neutral with respectto its effects on the generated, resonant frequencies of the vibratingstrings, i.e., the body does not add to or subtract from the resonantfrequencies of theguitar strings.

For a more complete understanding of the present invention and a greaterappreciation of its attendant advantages, reference should be made tothe following detailed description taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a plan view of aguitarhaving astone body and a' laminated neck reinforced and tuned by a tuning bar inaccordance with the principles of the present invention;

FlG. 2 is a longitudinal, cross-sectional view of FIG. 1 showing'detailsofconstruction thereof; and

FIGS. 3, 4 and 5 are enlarged, transverse, longitudinal and'transversecrosssections, respectively, of the new tuned neck showing details ofconstruction thereof.

DE'SCRlPTION OF THE INVENTION Referring now to FlGS. 1-5, the new andimproved guitar includes a polished, sculpted stone body to which isfastened by epoxy cement C and/or bolts (not shown) a new and improvedtuned neck 11. The neck includes a generally triangular peg head 12 uponwhich are mounted six tuning pegs 13-18, a nut 19, and a-fret boardmounting-a plurality ofwire frets 21 arrayed in conventionalspacing. Thestone body 10 supports at its upper surface asolid aluminum bridge 22which anchors the lower ends of six metal strings which are secured attheir upper ends to and made taut by the rotatable tuning pegs 13-18.The strings are identified by their notes and are as follows: E, A, D,G, B, E, which are the sixth, fifth, fourth, third, second and firststrings, respectively, of a six string guitar. Of course, the novel neckand body construction disclosed herein may be used in stringedinstruments other than guitars and in instruments having more or lessthan six strings.

In accordance with a critical aspect of the present invention, the neck11 is specially constructed and reinforced to provide a stable, straightguitar neck having superior strength properties, superior properties ofdurability, and superior acoustic properties to the reinforced guitarnecks heretofore available to the art for use in electrical guitars. Tothat end, the neck 11 is carved from a composite structure including ahardwood base 25, such as mahogony, ebony, maple or the like, in whichis formed a longitudinal stepped groove 30. The cross section of thelowermost portion 31 of the groove is approximately 5/32 inch square,while that of the upper portion 32 is approximately 5/16 inch square.The groove 30 extends from the nut 19 to the heel 26 of the neck, anominal distance of 21 inches. As shown in FIG. 3, a truss rod 33,advantageously made of 5/32 inch diameter drill rod, is disposed in thegroove 31, and its head end is secured therein by epoxy cement 34.Advantageously, the head end of the truss rod 33 is threaded orotherwise reshaped to enable the epoxy to bind itself securely to thetruss rod as well as to the walls of the upper end of the groove 31. lnthis manner, the upper end of the truss rod is firmly anchored in theuppermost portions of the hardwood neck base 25 at the nut. The foot 26aof the truss rod is threaded to receive a tensioning nut 36 and washer37 which are used to tension the neck base 25 to induce a slight bow tothe neck structure during the carving thereof. Before carving, the neckbase 25 is a rectangular prism approximately 28 inchesX2V4 inchesX /sinch.

In accordance with the principles of the invention, a special tuning bar40 is laminated to the neck base 25 to become an effectively integral,vibrating part of the neck 11. The tuning bar 40, in accordance with acritical aspect of the invention, is precisely and accurately tuned tovibrate at and to produce a pitch of a high E" note. To that end, it hasbeen determined that a 5/16 inch square, nominal 21 inch long bar ofwater hardened tool steel, when struck as a tuning fork, will vibrate atthe frequency of a high E note, Hz. During manufacture, the high Etuning bar 40 may have tobe slightly ground down from the nominal 21inch length or otherwise modified to provide the requisite, precisetuning to high E. Thus and as should be understood, the resonantfrequency of the bar 40 will be such that it will sympatheticallyvibrate with a high E note and all of its harmonics. In accordance withthe invention, the tuning bar or high note sustainer 40 not only vastly.enhances the desired acoustic properties of the neck of the guitar andthe entire guitar itself, but being a rigid metallic element, itsignificantly contributes 'to the overall strength and stability of theguitar neck '11.

The sustaining bar 40 is epoxy cemented in the groove 32 in the neckbase 25, prior to carving, above the truss rod 33, which,advantageously, is precoated with a lubricant L at the truss rod-tuningrod interface to prevent the truss rod from becoming adhered to thesustaining rod 40.

After the tuning-sustaining bar 40 and the truss rod 33 have beeninserted in the block of wood or neck base 25 from which the final neckconfiguration 11 is to be derived, the neck base 25 is carved and shapedin conventional manner to give it the final cross section, which isgenerally rectangular at the heel and generally triangular at the nut.Prior to carving, a fret board 20 is laminated to the upper surfaces ofthe wood block. A series of wire frets 21 may thereafter be installed atthe surface of the fret board, in accordance with conventional practice.

The truss rod 33 is used in combination with the sustaining bar 40 tokeep the neck 11 almost straight, i.e., a slight bow" of no greater thanl/32 inch and substantially rigid. As will be understood, absentsubstantially total rigidity and straightness of the neck 11 (within1/32 inch tolerance), when the guitar is subsequently strung and the sixstrings placed under tension, the neck must resist all tendency to bowor curve (other than the H32 inch accommodatable bow) since any bowingor curving of the neck is deleterious; it will make the separation ofthe strings from the fret board nonuniform and will interfere with theproper performance of the guitar. Thus, it is an objective of thepresent invention to ensure that the strings of the guitar, whentensioned, will remain uniformly spaced from the finger board at alltimes regardless of the degree of tautness of the strings induced by thetuning pegs. In contrast with many prior art guitars, where a constantadjustment and retightening of the truss rod is required during the lifeof the guitar, the provision of both a truss rod and a sustaining rodmake readjustment of the truss rod of the present guitar unnecessarythroughout the life of the guitar. Indeed, after the neck 11 is carved,access to the tensioning nut 36 is eliminated by permanently epoxycementing a metal cover 50 thereover.

In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the side edges 29 ofthe heavy stone body are shaped to have flats 50 along and/or adjacentthe bottom, so that the new guitar may be vertically free standing onits bottom edge or on its side edges. That is, of course, feasible andpossible with a thin solid body, approximately 1 inch, only when stoneis used as the base material, and the center of gravity of theinstrument is in the body 11; indeed, it approximates the center ofgravity of the body 11. Of course, in certain cases, it may be desirableto use the new and improved neck construction of the invention with ahardwood body, in which case, the guitar would have improved acousticproperties, however, it would not be self-supportingly, free standing,since it would have a high center of gravity.

In accordance with still another important aspect of the presentinvention, the guitar strings are arranged in combination with thebridge, nut, and peg head, so as to be self-tuning." Thus, the G and Dstringsare positioned relative to the nut 19 to produce fifth resonantfrequencies ofG and D when those strings are tuned to true pitch. Morespecifically, the pitch produced on the D string when plucked betweenthe tuning peg l5 and the nut 19 will be an A440 Hz. (the most commonlyused tuning pitch). When this fourth string is tuned to a true D note,the tone will be the same as that produced by playing the harmonic abovethe seventh fret of the D string and will be the same as that producedby playing the harmonic above the fifth fret of the A string. The sametype of relationship exists between the G and D strings and theirharmonics. The remaining E, B, andE (first, second and sixth) stringsmay be tuned to the aforementioned three G, D, and A (third, fourth andfifth) strings, enabling the entire guitar to be tuned to true pitchwithout the necessity of resorting to a separate instrument such as apitch pipe, tuning fork or the like. 1

Thus, the new stone guitar, or any guitar having its strings arranged inthe above-described manner, may be initially tuned and returned at anytime using the method of the invention. Moreover, proper tuning of theindividual strings and their relationship to each other may be simplyand quickly checked from time to time to make certain that the guitar isproperly tuned, as will be understood. This unique system of tuning aguitar is effected by the proper spacing of the nut and the tuning pegsof the strings, namely, the third and fourth (G and D) strings.

A guitar constructed in accordance with the aforementioned pricipleswill have a unique and beautiful sound that heretofore has never beenproduced by an electric guitar or comparable instrument. Moreover, thesound is vastly superior, in terms of measurable parameters, to any ofthe sounds that have been produced by known guitars, whether electric orotherwise. The enjoyment of the ultimate quality of the sound generatedby strings vibrating between a stone body and tuning pegs mounted on thenew and improved neck will, of course, be affected by the choice ofpickup electronics employed. Of course, the ulitmate tonal quality of anelectric guitar is fundamentally limited by the ability of the vibratingstrings to generate acceptable tones, and, regardless of the electronicsemployed, it is the combination of guitar body neck, and strings whichare determinative thereof.

The guitar of the present invention may be conventionally electrified bydisposing appropriate electronic pickups beneath the vibrating guitarstrings in a suitable cavity 8 formed in the stone body and covered by aconventional pick guard plate 9, as shown.

It should be appreciated that the new electric guitar construction ofthe invention provides a stringed instrument having a uniquely tuned andreinforced neck which provides excellent sustaining and high frequencyresonating characteristics to generate notes. Moreover and especiallywith regard to the harmonics of E, the basic note of the guitar, thissustain and resonation broadens and tunes the response of the entireinstrument as it is played.

It should be understood, of course, that the stone guitar hereinillustrated and described is intended to be representative only, .ascertain changes may be made therein without departing from the clearteachings of the disclosure. Accordingly, reference should be made tothe following appended claims in determining the full scope of theinvention. i

I claim:

1. A stringed musical instrument comprising a. a stone body of singlepiece construction having at its face ahollowed out cavity therein;

b. an elongated, reinforced neck secured to said 7 body;

0. a bridge mounted on said stone body;

d. tuning pegs and a nut carried by said reinforced neck;

e. a plurality of strings extending between said tuning pegs and saidbridge; and

f. a pick guard closing said cavity.

2. The instrument of claim 1, in which a. said single piece stone bodyis selected from the group comprising granite, marble, onyx, rosequartz, petrified wood and agate.

3. The instrument of claim 1, in which a. said neck is tuned andreinforced by the inclusion therein of a metallic tuning bar tuned to ahigh E note.

4. The instrument of claim 1, in which a. the side edges of said stonebody include at least one straight edge portion upon which theinstrument may be substantially, vertically free standing.

5. The instrument of claim 4, in which a. said straight edge isperpendicular to the longitudinal axis of said neck.

6. The instrument of claim 1, in which a. said neck is of hardwoodconstruction having a full length stepped groove formed therein;

b. a truss rod is disposed in the bottom of said groove for reinforcingand for adjustably tensioning said neck prior to the attachment thereofto said stone 6 body;

0. said tuning bar is disposed in said groove above said truss rod;

d. said tuning bar comprises a 21 inch (nominal) bar of 5/16 inch squaretool steel hardened to Rockwell C e. said groove is covered by ahardwood fret board extending substantially for the full length of saidneck;

f. said finger board and the head of said truss rod are permanentlysecured to the hardwood portions of said neck by epoxy cement;

g. a lubricant is disposed at the interface of said truss rod and saidtuning bar.

7. The guitar neck construction of claim 6, in which a. said tuning barcomprises a 21 inch (nominal) bar of 5/16 inch square tool steelhardened to Rockwell C 60.

8. The guitar neck construction of claim 6, in which a. said tuning baris an elongated metallic element which, when struck as a tuning fork,produces a high E note.

1. A stringed musical instrument comprising a. a stone body of singlepiece construction having at its face a hollowed out cavity therein; b.an elongated, reinforced neck secured to said body; c. a bridge mountedon said stone body; d. tuning pegs and a nut carried by said reinforcedneck; e. a plurality of strings extending between said tuning pegs andsaid bridge; and f. a pick guard closing said cavity.
 2. The instrumentof claim 1, in which a. said single piece stone body is selected fromthe group comprising granite, marble, onyx, rose quartz, petrified woodand agate.
 3. The instrument of claim 1, in which a. said neck is tunedand reinforced by the inclusion therein of a metallic tuning bar tunedto a high E note.
 4. The instrument of claim 1, in which a. the sideedges of said stone body include at least one straight edge portion uponwhich thE instrument may be substantially, vertically free standing. 5.The instrument of claim 4, in which a. said straight edge isperpendicular to the longitudinal axis of said neck.
 6. The instrumentof claim 1, in which a. said neck is of hardwood construction having afull length stepped groove formed therein; b. a truss rod is disposed inthe bottom of said groove for reinforcing and for adjustably tensioningsaid neck prior to the attachment thereof to said stone body; c. saidtuning bar is disposed in said groove above said truss rod; d. saidtuning bar comprises a 21 inch (nominal) bar of 5/16 inch square toolsteel hardened to Rockwell C 60; e. said groove is covered by a hardwoodfret board extending substantially for the full length of said neck; f.said finger board and the head of said truss rod are permanently securedto the hardwood portions of said neck by epoxy cement; g. a lubricant isdisposed at the interface of said truss rod and said tuning bar.
 7. Theguitar neck construction of claim 6, in which a. said tuning barcomprises a 21 inch (nominal) bar of 5/16 inch square tool steelhardened to Rockwell C
 60. 8. The guitar neck construction of claim 6,in which a. said tuning bar is an elongated metallic element which, whenstruck as a tuning fork, produces a high E note.